The process of deliberation and choice.
The process of deliberation and choice. The process of deliberation and choice. Depict in their true proportion all three phases of conduct, namely, i. sensing the crucial situation, ii. deliberating over its solution, and iii. solving it by decisive action. Comments on these. Philosophers used to say that the soul of man was a trinity, whose members were feeling, intellect, and will. Each, said they, was ultimate, irreducible, and unique. Feeling was not a kind of thinking, nor was thinking a species of volition. For all their difference, however, all three faculties worked in wonderful unison; and the problem of life was the problem of balancing their activities. Modern science discards this pretty scheme, but it preserves its truth. b. Analysis of character. Let us analyze briefly the conduct of one endowed with reflective foresight. We find that there are three stages in it. First, a man finds himself in a situation which makes trouble for him; and he must sense this trouble feelingly. He may be thwarted in a desire, or brought into pain. Secondly, he plans to escape the difficulty; and, in planning, he looks ahead to the probable outcome of each project which he considers. Against his private wishes he weighs the effects of gratifying them. Against the demands of other people he sets what he deems to be his rights. Against his own bad habits he arrays his better knowledge. Having done this, he finishes off the affair with a decisive act. And it is this act which, when judged in the light of the circumstances, reveals the precise degree and quality of control which the man's reflective mind exercises over his career. The character of this man is nothing more nor less than the management of just these inter-playing impulses, appetites, feelings, foresights, and arguments. In his adjustment of these forces, he Shows himself as in no other way. ' Let us call these three stages of rational behavior respectively the immediate response to the difficulty, the reflective delay, and the active solution. We may now state a little more formally the fundamental fact about them which gives form and body to the whole technique of character drawing: Character, being the particular proportion and relation of these three activities, is not determined by anyone or two of them. Hence, to depict it unambiguously, all three must be shown in their particular relation under the given, circumstances. 2 Or, to put the case more bluntly; the finest analysis of a hero's emotions and yearnings will not tell us decisively what manner of man he is, nor will his thoughts do so, nor will his deeds alone. To demonstrate this and at the same time to show that perfect character drawing involves the three-phase integration just described, I shall cite a few passages from Maupassant's little masterpiece, A Coward, which the student should carefully review at this point. The three phases here are very obvious. The insult passed to the viscount's guests gives rise at once to the dramatic difficulty, and to this difficulty the viscount responds immediately. This response gives rise to a further complication, the challenge. Then begins the reflective delay, during which the viscount's impulses, feelings, notions of propriety, anticipations, and unsuspected physical reactions fight among themselves for the control of the decisive solution of his difficulty. At the height of their battle, one wins; and the act comes in a twinkling. Here are some illuminating incidents from each. phase: The immediate response. The reflective delay. The active solution. Category:Character